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Your Comments on food insecurity: 'It's time to start making people responsible for their own well being'

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The meat case awaits shoppers last year at Nice N Easy's Brewerton store. In 2012, 49 million Americans experienced some form of food insecurity, according to a recent government report.
(David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com)

That's about the same level of national food insecurity as in 2011, officials said in "Household Food Security in the United States in 2012," a report released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Its release comes as Congress prepares to debate the future of SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program.

An article about the report drew a variety of responses from syracuse.com readers. Here's a sample of the comments they attached to the story:

From Jason SuperRecords: I know taxpayers get upset about abuse, but unfortunately it's the individual that abuses the system that gets noticed and not the overwhelming majority being recognized as having genuine need. When it comes down to it we are much quicker as a society at condemning the poor who steal from us and who remain poor instead of the rich who also take from us and stay nameless and faceless . . .

From skatizen: If the taxpayer and the government are going to provide lucrative subsidies to large private and corporate farms, the Farm Bill that funds and extends the subsidies should fund and extend SNAP. Food stamps should not be used for anything other than food. Many food stamp recipients, because they don't have cars, pay more per unit for food because they buy in smaller quantities at smaller stores that charge more per unit.

From RoyalMounty: "The report on food insecurity comes just before Congress will begin debating the fate of the food stamp program, now called SNAP."
Perhaps the Dept of Ag should stop funding an educational program in Mexico to inform future "illegals" on how to obtain SNAP!

From Mark Blum: . . . The richest, most powerful nation on the Earth and in all of history, with the greatest liberty and recognition of the human being and an indelible right to life, stands quiet while more than one in five of our children live in poverty. I am ashamed of my country. You should be, too. Where are the armies who support life even all the way back to conception? Why do they continue to watch their neighbor starve? Imagine if I had five dogs and I deliberately starved one of them. That would be a crime. Letting our fellow citizens starve is just as criminal.
We have a choice. Americans should guarantee and assure each other that every single American is fed . . .

From luvtovol: When I'm out delivering to most of these corner stores, you would be surprised at how many are selling their benefits for cash. Don't know where their next meal is coming from? I know it's not coming from the 40 oz and blunt you just bought after selling what was supposed to be used for food! No sympathy here as I witness my tax dollars being severely abused on a daily basis! No one is owed anything, it's about time to start making people responsible for their own well being and decisions in life. I have no problem helping the truly needy or elderly, but today's generation really needs a wake-up call.

From crazygem: I have on several occasions witnessed people shopping on the first of the month buying up shrimp, lobsters and crab and then whip out their benefits card. It makes me upset when I lay down my clearanced package of chicken as a working family just getting by.

What's the best way to assure that all Americans are adequately fed? Please leave a comment below.